Things are going really well. I’m fully recovered from my shoulder injury, and have passed my first (very beginner level) Aikido test.
I achieved two of my 3 goals.
Aikido: I got myself to the seminar with Robert Nadeau Shihan, in July, in good shape to participate fully. My other shoulder was very, very sore after the first day. There was no way I was going to miss the second day, so I ate dinner with my husband at our favorite Mexican fast food place with a plastic baggie of soda machine ice dripping down my shirt. Fashion be damned. I iced it several times overnight, too. It felt good in the morning, and continued to improve through the day. Yay!
I also did a 3-day retreat with my dojo earlier this month. I discovered that doing Aikido for 3 days without sitting in seiza (setting down on your knees) is painful! There were no mats, so everything was done standing. I never realized how much sitting stretches the legs. I’m rarely sore after a regular class, but by the middle of the second day I felt like someone had been beating on my kneecaps with a hammer. Luckily that cleared up quickly with stretching, once I was back home.
Weight: I exceded my goal of losing 10 pounds by the end of September. It’s only the 27th, and I’m down 12 from when I started this blog (22 overall). Another 8 to get to my initial goal weight, and then “we’ll see.” It’s been very easy. Play hard, work hard, eat good stuff. Really painless.
Riding: This didn’t go the way I anticipated. I got called on to do my first Aikido test earlier than I thought I would. That was great, and I had a wonderful time training for it, but it kept me very busy for a month or so. It’s also been hot as blazes - not good riding weather at all. I must remember not to plan any outdoor activity for August/September. It never works out. (It’s 82F in my home office right now, at 12:40 a.m.) The good news, though… Cooler weather should be just around the corner.
So, not bad. Time for what’s next.
